Dual Deception
by Sara Jaye
Summary: Two completely different stories. One thread to tie them together.
1. It'll work, trust me!

"Ty Lee..."

The acrobat turned to her princess, smiling sweetly.

"Yes, Azula?"

"If my hands weren't covered by these gloves..." Azula smiled almost ferally, moving closer to her girlfriend. "Do you know what I'd do right now?"

"Ooh, I bet I can think of a few things," Ty Lee giggled, snuggling up to her. "But tell me. What would you do if it weren't for the gloves?"

"I'd smack you." Azula's smile quickly became a deathglare. "What were you _thinking?! _This is how we're going to capture the rebels, by dressing up as _clouds?_ How does that even _work?_"

Ty Lee smiled.

"It's easy! People wonder what clouds are doing on the ground, they get fascinated enough to touch us and then we grab them!" she explained. Azula's forehead met her gloved palm with a muffled smack.

"This has got to be the most idiotic plan in the history of idiotic plans."

"But it'll work! I promise!" Ty Lee gave her the most innocent, pleading smile she could. "Just give it a chance...please? For _me?_"

Azula sighed. She was going to regret this and she knew it, she looked like a fool and if _Zuko_ saw her there was no doubt he'd use it for blackmail against her. Why wouldn't he? After all she'd done to him over the years...she shuddered. _Please let Zuzu be way too busy with Mai to come by here today._

"You _owe me_," she finally said. "You owe me _big_."

"Oh, don't worry, Azula," Ty Lee purred, "I'll _more_ than make it worth your while later..."

*

_Author's Notes: Don't ya just love lame puns? XD *gets hit with rotten tomatoes* Okay, I guess not. But admit it, I still totally had you fooled, didn't I?_


	2. Lost

The sky had turned completely dark, and the air's chill was unpleasant and stifling. It was hopeless, completely and utterly hopeless.

It had all started out perfectly, of course. They knew the plan, they had a direction and they were going to stick to their guns come hell or high water. But somewhere along the line, everything had changed and now they were trapped.

Sokka balled his hand into a fist, frustration welling in him as he whirled around to face his companion.

"I cannot _believe _you got us lost, Zuko! See, this is why I need to hold the map at all times, the minute I let you take it we ended up in the middle of nowhere!"

"It's not _my_ fault!" Zuko snapped. "Your map's faulty, there's too many trees and rocks around here for me to know which ones we've already passed and the map doesn't show all of them!"

"No, _you_ just didn't read it right," Sokka insisted, and Aang sighed.

"Look, I'm sure it's not as bad as it seems right now. Maybe we're closer than we think!"

The two elder boys exchanged a look. Most outsiders would see Aang as being hopelessly naive and idealistic when he should be more worried, but the Airbender's instincts had a history of being closer to right than wrong.

"I don't know," Zuko said. "I think we might have to stay here overnight, it's too dark to see that far in front of us anyway."

"We can use Firebending to light our way," Aang suggested.

"No, because that's stupid," Sokka retorted. "Firebending is stupid, and so are-"

"Ahem! Firebender standing _right here_," Zuko cut in. Sokka shrugged.

"See?"

"Oh, so now I'm stupid?" Zuko glared at him. "Just face it, Sokka, your map got us lost!"

"No, _you_ got us lost!"

They stood there arguing until Aang gave a loud whistle, kicking a large chunk of earth between them.

"I know it's late, and we're tired, and this is all very frustrating. But we're not gonna get through tonight by fighting, so let's just try to get along until then," he said, even though the look on his face also told them he could easily kick both their butts if they annoyed him enough.

"...fine." Sokka sighed. "Sorry, Zuko, I guess I should've looked for a better map."

"And I should've let you hold it," Zuko said. "But we should still stay here until the morning, it's too dangerous to travel even with Firebending to light the way."

After Aang made them an earth tent and Zuko gathered enough leaves to form makeshift pillows, they laid down and slept until the sun rose the next morning.

*

_Gotcha again! :P_


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